I Don't Like Zooropa

[gherman]

I genuinely feel bad for anyone who doesn't like this album

I genuinely feel bad for anyone who does like this album. It big pile of SHITE!!!!

 

[Scorpionac]

I was just listening to this the other day, I'd forgotten why it's my favourite U2 album =)

 

[alanah]

Ah, I like the album.

 

[theedgeu2]

I actually like Zooropa, but this is the album that I always forget from my library.
Must be the album cover art.

Well the artwork is the best artwork U2 have done by far IMO. It's really travesque. That is a new word I have made up meaning U2 at it's strangest. So Zooropa is travesque also. I claim the word travesque!

Ok now to be serious I am really liking getting to know this album. And I've only been listening for an hour. I know what some of you are talking about. Someone said that if I DON'T check it out I might be disapointed. I agree. Still, it is going to take time for it to sink in. I'll let you know how the repeated listenings do.

 

[theedgeu2]

Crap! I almost forgot!:

 

[mikal]

I think Animal Collective music or songs like FEZ, Somedays Are Better Than Others are only bad experiments. This music was planned as experiment, but not all experiments are successful. As a result this music can't rock you or make you feel anything. It's like listening to birds singing - if your ears listen to it for a long time you'll start to feel some harmony. I like listen to some relax sounds, but there is nothing great for art in it. There are many good band's that are not immediate and interesting: Dream Theater, Autechre, Hallucinogen, Radiohead, for example. They make interesting experiments. But Animal Collective sounds like singing of Down's syndrome children, I realy can't understand why are they so popular today. FEZ Being Born is another bad experiment. There are some bad experiments in Zooropa too, so Zooropa < The Joshua Tree and < Achtung Baby for me. No doubt.

fail

 

[bizkitgto]

oh uh....Biz, you just lost me.

Well I put a question mark....but Zooropa is pretty Zootastic!!

 

[shart1780]

I love it. There are a couple songs I usually skip, but overall it's probably one of my most listened to U2 albums. The title song is great. Easily one of my favorites.

 

[shart1780]

i think animal collective music or songs like fez, somedays are better than others are only bad experiments. This music was planned as experiment, but not all experiments are successful. As a result this music can't rock you or make you feel anything. It's like listening to birds singing - if your ears listen to it for a long time you'll start to feel some harmony. I like listen to some relax sounds, but there is nothing great for art in it. There are many good band's that are not immediate and interesting: Dream theater, autechre, hallucinogen, radiohead, for example. They make interesting experiments. But animal collective sounds like singing of down's syndrome children, i realy can't understand why are they so popular today. Fez being born is another bad experiment. There are some bad experiments in zooropa too, so zooropa < the joshua tree and < achtung baby for me. No doubt.

lol

 

[ahittle]

It's an awkward album, a sort of rustic charm

Well put.

It's definitely one of those things where the sum is greater than the parts. Listening to it out of context can also be disorienting. But I think it really works well as a addition to the AB era, especially knowing that it was recorded on the fly in the midst of those mad, dizzy ZooTV shows.

One of my favorite things about Zooropa is the drums - even though it gets tagged with the "electro" tag, most of the drums here are straight-up Larry just playing cool stuff.

Weirdly, the drum tracks on supposedly "stripped down" rocking 00's songs like 'Elevation" are more loop-based and Larry-less than Zooropa.

 

[believer75]

Crap! I almost forgot!:

what's not to love about this? The perfect wrapping paper for a classic album. It will go down as one of their best at the end of it all. And in my opinion, we already got that "third masterpiece" when we were blessed with this one.

 

[Zoocoustic]

Zooropa is my favorite U2 album. I wouldn't call it their best (AB gets that title), but it is my favorite. I've loved it since Day 1.

I can see the disconnect if you weren't a fan of the whole ZooTV era. That's the era I became a U2 fan, so of course I have a special connection with that time period and everything that came out of it.

But to me this album is a masterpiece and always takes me back to another place - heck, another PLANET alltogether. To me it is the most artistic and creative that U2 has been or ever will be.

 

[U2girl]

A document of the era.

A bit overrated (as is the entire decade) though the opening song, Stay and the last three songs on the album are very good.

 

[zooropop40]

Zooropa, for me, is not about the individual songs. It is about the attitude, the culture, the ZOO TV spirit, the overall "feel" of it.

It is almost an Orwell-esque album with a 1984 Big Brother feel about the meanings of the future of technology. Almost like a pre-OK computer. It is an album with a constant theme, it is not really about the songs- but rather the innovation and meaning behind the whole album. Once you understand, and "Feel" the album...then you can get to appreciate the individual songs.

I hope Im not talking gibberish?

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Orwell-esque

not to be a grammar nerd but the correct term is "Orwellian"

 

[mikal]

Zooropa, for me, is not about the individual songs. It is about the attitude, the culture, the ZOO TV spirit, the overall "feel" of it.

It is almost an Orwell-esque album with a 1984 Big Brother feel about the meanings of the future of technology. Almost like a pre-OK computer. It is an album with a constant theme, it is not really about the songs- but rather the innovation and meaning behind the whole album. Once you understand, and "Feel" the album...then you can get to appreciate the individual songs.

I hope Im not talking gibberish?

great post! my exact feelings.

 

[ozeeko]

Zooropa is fucking all killer, no filler.

Some Days Are Better Than Others is the funnest song they ever cut. Daddy's Gonna Pay is U2 at their most menacing. The title track is U2 goin prog rock. Numb is U2 going industrial. Lemon is emotional disco. Stay is one of their best straight up love ballads. Babyface is pure pop. The First Time is 100% gospel without resorting to cliched gospel flourishes. Dirty Day is one of Bono's darkest character studies. And The Wander is Johnny Cash singing in outer space. What more could you ask for?

 

[theedgeu2]

Ok a quick update on things. After sleeping to it last night I think that the title track and DCPFYCC are making their way pretty well into my mind. I've had Zooropa stuck in my head. Numb, Some Days, Wanderer, Babyface, and DD are the ones that haven't yet sunk in. I don't think I mentioned this before but the first time I heard Babyface I could have sworn he was saying "Babycakes"!

 

[kassandra]

But Animal Collective sounds like singing of Down's syndrome children,

There are so many things wrong with this statement.

I like Zooropa, not my top 5 though. The skip song for me is Babyface.
Lemon, Stay, First Time
The electronic sound was different and refreshing when the alum came out. It has staying power.

 

[LemonMelon]

Zooropa is fucking all killer, no filler.

Some Days Are Better Than Others is the funnest song they ever cut. Daddy's Gonna Pay is U2 at their most menacing. The title track is U2 goin prog rock. Numb is U2 going industrial. Lemon is emotional disco. Stay is one of their best straight up love ballads. Babyface is pure pop. The First Time is 100% gospel without resorting to cliched gospel flourishes. Dirty Day is one of Bono's darkest character studies. And The Wander is Johnny Cash singing in outer space. What more could you ask for?

Fuck yes. Couldn't have put it better myself. The album is really jumpy, but it hangs together due to a certain creative, carefree spirit.

 

[digitize]

I absolutely adore Zooropa. In particular, Stay and Zooropa are amazing, and Lemon is my favorite song by anyone, ever.

 

[Popmart Shopper]

Well maybe you just dont like Zooropa has much as others.Its one of my top 5 from them.To give you an example I just got into The Joshua Tree album about 2 years ago and it came out 20 years before that so you just never know.

 

[karinlv]

Zooropa

What do you want.

 

[OrARoundabout]

I like Zooropa

 

[zooropop40]

I really dont want to start another radiohead/u2 comparison thread (we have enough of those)...but...

I think that Zooropa is very similar to OK computer in overall theme. The idea of technology dehumanizing our world was the entire idea of ZOO TV and zooropa, and this is what Radiohead did later in 1997.

Fitter Happier could have easily been inspired by Numb? ... I mean both songs have so much similarities in the "message"

The themes are very similar if you ask me, maybe OK Computer was inspired by ZOO TV/ Zooropa??

 

[mikal]

I really dont want to start another radiohead/u2 comparison thread (we have enough of those)...but...

I think that Zooropa is very similar to OK computer in overall theme. The idea of technology dehumanizing our world was the entire idea of ZOO TV and zooropa, and this is what Radiohead did later in 1997.

Fitter Happier could have easily been inspired by Numb? ... I mean both songs have so much similarities in the "message"

The themes are very similar if you ask me, maybe OK Computer was inspired by ZOO TV/ Zooropa??

it's funny you say that because the first time i ever heard OK Computer, my first thought was "did they listen to Zooropa over and over while making this album?"

since then, it's widely considered a masterpiece and original concept, but at the time in 1997, those were my thoughts.

 

[gvox]

If this were an album full of really shitty songs, the 'spirit or feel of the thing' argument wouldn't cut it for me. It used to be all about the music As it is, it ISN'T an album of completely shitty songs, there are some real gems on Zooropa, for sure.

 

[bizkitgto]

Zooropa

Zooropa

What do you want.

Be a winner.
Eat to get slimmer.

 

[mysterious_jen]

Zooropa is fucking all killer, no filler.

Some Days Are Better Than Others is the funnest song they ever cut. Daddy's Gonna Pay is U2 at their most menacing. The title track is U2 goin prog rock. Numb is U2 going industrial. Lemon is emotional disco. Stay is one of their best straight up love ballads. Babyface is pure pop. The First Time is 100% gospel without resorting to cliched gospel flourishes. Dirty Day is one of Bono's darkest character studies. And The Wander is Johnny Cash singing in outer space. What more could you ask for?

this.


zooropa is incredibly dark and very very special to me , the first u2 album i owned (the first CD i owned too!) and the one i go back to in the hard times in my life. pwns the ass of a lot of other u2 albums.


ps- add whichever insulting comment about radiohead here that fits.

 

[zwervers2]

Zooropa is fucking all killer, no filler.

Some Days Are Better Than Others is the funnest song they ever cut. Daddy's Gonna Pay is U2 at their most menacing. The title track is U2 goin prog rock. Numb is U2 going industrial. Lemon is emotional disco. Stay is one of their best straight up love ballads. Babyface is pure pop. The First Time is 100% gospel without resorting to cliched gospel flourishes. Dirty Day is one of Bono's darkest character studies. And The Wander is Johnny Cash singing in outer space. What more could you ask for?

I am SOOOOO going to play this right now